Client was charged with two dozen counts, including 19 counts of sexual exploitation of children for possession of illegal pornographic images and multiple illegal firearms possession charges.
The investigation against the Client began with a police sting operation that led to a search warrant being executed at Client’s home. All illegal items were discovered in the home, many of them in Client’s living room, near Client’s personal computer. Client admitted to possession of all items during a post-arrest interview with law enforcement. State’s plea offer was 30 years on probation with the first 15 years in prison.
Rather than take the State’s plea offer, Client opted to have a bench trial–with just one judge deciding guilt–rather than a jury trial where 12 people randomly selected from the community would decide guilt. Right before trial, the State dismissed 5 counts. At his bench trial, the Judge found Client not guilty of one of the sexual exploitation counts and guilty of all other remaining charges.
After an extensive sentencing hearing, which took almost as long as the trial itself, the Judge sentenced Client to 30 years on probation with the first 3 years in prison. So, although found guilty, Leslie helped the Client obtain a better resolution at trial–literally five times better on the prison time that was offered before his trial.
